July 9, 2003
Gretchen Cook-Anderson
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-0836)
RELEASE: 03-233
NASA AND JAPANESE SPACE AGENCY TEAM TO INSPIRE STUDENTS
NASA and Japan's space agency arranged for five Japanese students,
chosen from 1,861 applicants, and their parents to participate in a
live NASA in-flight space program. The program was with the
International Space Station Expedition 7 crew.
Astronaut Ed Lu and Cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko participated in the
program, which took place at "Tokyo FM" radio station yesterday. The
program airs in Japan, to an audience of nearly one million listeners
in two, two-hour radio programs in mid-July.
The student group, made up primarily of ten-year olds, was part of the
National Space Development Agency of Japan's (NASDA) Education
Program entitled, "When You Wish Upon a Star." Following a background
lecture from astronaut Mamoru Mohri, the five students posed
questions to the Station crew concerning the event's theme: "Dreams
of the Future Earth." The students and their parents were able to
both listen and watch as the astronauts responded.
The Space Station event was planned as a way of encouraging students
to think more about space and possibilities for the future. According
to NASDA officials, its Education Program provides a unique
opportunity to foster among Japanese children the "first strong
consciousness and aspects of oneself as an earthling."
"NASA is grateful for the opportunity to engage young people from
around the world in educational opportunities such as the
International Space Station in-flight program," said Debbie Brown
Biggs, Team Lead for NASA's Teaching from Space Program. "Perhaps
through this kind of event, we can get young people thinking about
how science and technology transcend national borders. It is our
students of today who will lead the way in the scientific endeavors
of tomorrow," she said.
The International Space Station program, provided via NASA downlink,
is one in a series of downlinks to educational organizations across
the country and abroad, and an integral component of NASA's Teaching
from Space Program. The Teaching from Space Program, managed from the
Johnson Space Center, Houston, facilitates educational opportunities
that use the unique environment of human space flight. The program
builds partnerships with education communities to create unique
learning opportunities through the use of NASA research and
educational technology.
For those interested in accessing replays of the NASA TV broadcast of
the downlink with the Expedition 7 crew, NASA TV programming is
available via satellite through AMC-2, Transponder 9C at 85 degrees
west longitude, vertical polarization, with a frequency of 3880.0
MHz, and audio of 6.80 MHz.
For information about NASA and human space flight on the Internet,
visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
For information about NASA Education programs on the Internet, visit:
http://education.nasa.gov
For information about NASDA's Tsukuba Space Center visit:
http://www.nasda.go.jp/about/centers/tksc/index_e.html
-end-